Jeremy Clarkson declared he “no longer enjoys farming” after the disaster at Diddly Squat Farm.
Jeremy Clarkson has not had it easy this week with bovine TB found on Diddly Squat farm and one of his dogs dying.
Petrolhead turned farmer Jeremy Clarkson has made no secret about the difficulties faced by those in the industry, becoming an unofficial spokesperson for the people working the UK’s green and pleasant land. This week has been no different for the former Top Gear presenter after suffering an “absolutely dreadful” week.
The 65-year-old has gone as far to say that he is “not enjoying farming” at the moment, with bovine TB found on Diddly Squat Farm, coupled with a “sickly calf” and the death of one of his dogs. It’s fair to say, he’s had a tough few days.
On Thursday, he wrote on X, formerly Twitter, that a pregnant cow had contracted the disease on his farm near Chipping Norton, Oxfordshire. Speaking to Times Radio Breakfast, he said: “It’s awful, it is awful.
“You have a test every six months on the cows and then you sort of become blasé, it’s a hypothetical threat. And then the vet looks up, as he did yesterday lunchtime, and said ‘I’m really sorry this one’s failed’.
“So that means we’re now locked down and it’s just dreadful, absolutely dreadful.”
Cattle which fail a TB test, or animals that have inconclusive results for two consecutive tests, are classed as “reactors”, and must be isolated and slaughtered
Clarkson added: “It’s only been not even 24 hours since I found out and it occupies my mind. Well it was occupying my mind but I got up this morning and found one of my puppies has died. And we’ve got a very sickly calf. Honestly, farming? I’m not enjoying it this week.”
Clarkson’s partner, Lisa Hogan, posted a video to her Instagram account on Friday morning (August 1) to say that one of the puppies, all named according to the colour of their collars, known as ‘Mr Grey’ had died. She said: “Sad news this morning. I came in – we went for a lovely walk we got fed and when I came back, Mr Grey was dead.”
Asked in the comments of his X post about the prize bull known as ‘Endgame’, which Clarkson bought recently for £5,500, he said: “His test was ‘inconclusive’. I couldn’t bear it if we lost him.”
However, Clarkson wanted to make sure everyone knew that Diddly Squat was still very much open for business. In a follow-up post, he said: “The farm is NOT shut. We just can’t buy or sell any cows.”
Bovine TB is recognised as a problem which devastates farm businesses and is mainly spread through close contact when cattle breathe in droplets of mucus containing Mycobacterium bovis bacteria exhaled from an infectious animal. Badgers can carry the disease and culling has long been a part of the Government response to the crisis, despite criticism from wildlife and animal welfare campaigners, such as Queen guitarist Sir Brian May.
The Government said in June it will not be extending the badger cull and retains its commitment to end the practice before the next election.
Oxfordshire is an “edge area” for bovine TB, meaning it is a buffer zone between high risk and low risk areas – so most herds are subject to six monthly TB tests by default. There have been several cases in the area of Oxfordshire near to Diddly Squat Farm in recent weeks, according to ibTB, a mapping platform for the disease in England and Wales.
The every-day running of Clarkson’s farm is documented in a Prime Video series, which first aired in 2021, and brings to light common problems faced by British farmers. Clarkson has become a vocal supporter of farmers and attended a protest in London against the Government’s move to introduce inheritance tax on farmland in November 2024.